Photo: OlympiaBuebird · CC BY-SA 4.0Work, pay and getting to work in Onalaska
228 jobs are based in Onalaska, and 247 of its residents work somewhere. Home is the office for 11% of workers, where Washington as a whole has 20%. Only 3% stay in Onalaska for work; outside it, Chehalis is the main destination (9%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Onalaska by day and by night
On a workday 239 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 220 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Onalaska’s residents
Where Onalaska clocks in
9% of workers
7% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Onalaska is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Onalaska, 2013 → 2023: 199 → 228. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Onalaska’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Onalaska
of Onalaska workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 240 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far it is to work from Onalaska
About 29% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Onalaska: questions
What is the poverty rate in Onalaska?
11.9%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Onalaska work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chehalis (9%, 13 mi), Centralia (7%, 16 mi), Olympia (6%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Onalaska without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 30% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Onalaska, from the people who make the trip.
More of Onalaska
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.